The Warrior's Heart
by Sunstreaker's Squishy
Summary: With no help ever coming, Theresa Butler has to survive on a Decepticon warship and base. Unless her attitude and lack of survival skills kill her first. Living with organic-hating Decepticons will push her to the very brink. Rated for action & some gore.
1. Chapter 1

"_The cunning warrior attacks neither heart nor mind..."_

Rocky Mountains, Wyoming /12:00pm

The Butlers' white Ford Windstar pulled up to the log cabin, which set at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The snow mixed with the smoke colored slopes. The sharp jagged peaks pierced the sapphire sky while the pine trees surrounded the bottom. Small hills mingled into the forest behind the rental home.

The van, covered with dust and small nicks from the gravel, let out a slight whine when the driver braked. The dust cloud tailing it settled down to the road. Slowly, the doors opened, revealing the occupants. The first person was the slightly reddened Caucasian mother, Wendy. She was hoping for a technology-free, stress-free break from their home in New York. Her mahogany hair was no longer flattened and pinned back in a bun, but frizzy and curly from the long ride from the airport. She traded in her two piece office suit for bleached jeans and a pink turtleneck. Her light blue eyes scanned over the rugged home. It was a typical country cabin. The porch was fenced off by horizontal poles and shorter vertical ones bracing it. Along with the white screen door, there was a matching door with a glass and wire, oval design.

"I can't believe we left the city for Hicksville, USA." A tired, 15 year old girl walked up along her mother.

Terri adjusted the large pink duffle bag on her shoulder. She pushed up her large, red sunglasses, which rested at the border of her forehead. She brushed a few brown strands of hair behind her ear as she stared at the cabin with discouragement. She was seen as spoiled, but her father brought her back to the ground with his authority-filled voice. "What did we say about that tone, Theresa?" The baritone voiced father asked from the rear of the van.

"Yeah, Theresa." Cedric, Terri's 14 year old brother, added before receiving a slap to the back of the head.

Terri quickly apologized to her mother, who stated it was alright. Derek was proud of his children. They weren't running around with the wrong crowd or having any bad grades. They only had to be reminded a few times of their attitude, but not every family is perfect. He only wanted them to be like it was when he was growing up. The children respected, not feared, their parents. The respect was also reversed. He tossed the bags on the ground while his son picked them up and carried them into the cabin.

"This place is pretty cool, ain't it, Terri?" Cedric asked, nudging her.

The living room was the central hub of the cabin, which was branched out to the kitchen and the laundry room in the rear. On the sides, the bedrooms, arranged by size, were placed with a small bathroom for each of the members of the family. The largest room was, of course, the master bedroom. The king-sized bed was covered with a thick red and gold traced comforter, which was also placed on the twin-sized beds on the east wing. Terri groaned in frustration as she struggled to get the duffel bag onto her bed. She finally understood why her dad told her to pack light. She would have kept her hair dryer, pounds of shoes, and her flat iron back in New York. She also hated to admit she was a bit weak in muscle strength so that was why she was mostly out of breath from carrying her luggage. The teenage girl glanced around her room, taking in a mental inventory of its layout.

The night desk beside Terri's bed was painted white with an olive green glass lamp, resting on the table's surface. The golden frame supporting the lamp shade up was slightly dull, but was still fashionable. Matching with the night desk, the wide and low dresser was set at the front of the bed. Since the bed was pushed back to the wall and beside the window, there was more room to walk around. The wool, cream colored rug was stretched out from the closet to the large, red TV stand. Ignoring her abandoned duffel bag, she practically ran to the less modern looking electronic device. She shrugged off the fact that it was not a plasma or even high-definition. Like all teenagers, she was just glad that it had basic cable and had a decent picture. She retrieved the remote and ran back to the bed, leaping onto it. "_I guess this 'diamond in the rough' ain't so crappy. As long as Yogi or Wile E. Coyote doesn't show up to ruin our vacation, I'll live."_

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

The maroon, angled eyes narrowed with distasted as they stared into the gapping hole. Any being would suggest that he was seeing nothing in the sea of fact, he was actualy staring in the general direction of Earth. For days, the being remained secluded from everyone. Plans would flow in and out of him, but he never left his room. If his followers entered into his range of view, an eruption of insults and waves upon waves of pain and torture was the price for interrupting his thoughts. A warning of more punishment was his form of dismissing.

The only one who dared to enter was the being's second-in-command, Starscream. He walked halfway across the room toward the throne. "What did you discover?" The grizzly, commanding voice asked.

Starscream lowered his head and dared not to move any further after hearing his leader speak. "The news of our race could not be contained so-" _WHACK!_

Starscream was thrown across the room by the Megatron's kick. The Decepticon's equilibrium was imbalanced, causing him to be disoriented. He resisted the urge to rub his sore head. He was taken by surprise because he didn't even hear him get up from his seat. He had landed in front of the gaping hole, which the computer monitors were supposed to be, but due to age and attacks from the enemy, the monitors were no longer there. Just another thing that the drones needed to repair.

"**Do I look like I care if the fleshlings know about us?**" Megatron roared with frustration. He hoisted Starscream off the ground by clamping his right clawed hand around his neck.

It was true that some of the human race knew truly of the Transformers, but the military groups still held back some of the facts. All that the civilians know that there are hidden soldiers watching over them and any threat to Earth will be taken care of so they shouldn't worry. That doesn't mean that conspirators -like and Roswell believers- didn't try to reveal the truth. Thanks to Maggie and Glen, those plots failed.

"Forgive me, my Lord." Starscream managed to speak between gasps and wheezes.

Either Megatron was satisfied with Starscream's apology or just didn't care, but he released his grip, causing the Seeker to crumble to the ground. While Megatron went back to his throne, Starscream glared at him with hatred. He dared not to growl with frustration. He understood why the others were so fearful of Megatron(well, more than they already are at least).The tension was so thick on the ship. Losing to a weak species was embarrassing enough, but twice? The Decepticons, including Starscream, were surprised he hasn't killed them all in their barracks yet!

Starscream finally got to his feet and walked toward the door. He lifted his finger to the control panel on the wall. "I'm not through with you, Starscream." The second-in-command let out a low growl of frustration.

"_The old fool is so fixated on this race that he's starting to lose his CPU. Why don't he just die and let me lead? He's the reason why this faction is dying not those fleshlings._" Starscream thought.

Returning to his façade to "obedient servant", the Seeker marched reluctantly back to his master. He came at attention in front of Megatron with his arms folded behind his back and legs together. It took a moment or so before Megatron spoke.

" I believe it's time for a new 'recruit' to join our ranks, Starscream."

" Yes, my Lord. What do you prefer? I will personally retrieve him for you." Starscream bowed his head and laid one hand on his chest.

Megatron tapped his fingers on the metal throne as though he was thinking about an answer. On the contrary, he planned every bit of this plot. He knew how it would be played out and would counteract any fallback. He knew Starscream was "obedient", but he has watched this soldier ever since he entered into his ranks. The Seeker was a deceiver when it came to his own agenda.

"Not a mech. I don't have the time nor the patience to train him. A femme would suffice nicely." Megatron's eyes darkened. " A human…perhaps?"

Starscream finally cracked under the thought of a human even steeping foot onto this ship. " What? A fleshling? Lord Megatron, what can a fleshling do that we, your worthy subjects, can't?"

" It can win the war for me." Megatron smiled with his teeth glistening.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O. O

_**What is the Decepticon leader planning? If you think you know the answer, leave it in the review. (Be gentle with the reviews please.) Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers franchise. Although, I own the Butlers and Megatron's evil plot. HEEHEEHEEHEEHEE.(I'll go in depth of the ship's description later on. Oh, shout out to Anasazi Darkmoon for her help in the story!)**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for my year long vacation. I was trying to get a chapter, but it didn't wanna come out. Then, my brain decided to forget about it entirely. Well, with some help from Dark Maiden95, I'm back. Promise I'll upload less than a year. LOL. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day Three of Vacation…

Theresa was finally warming up to the place, but not enough for her to enjoy the wilderness behind the cabin or even the front yard for that matter. She wasn't scared; she just thought the wilderness wasn't for her. Her mother tried to coax her out, but the saying goes "You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city of the girl". The girl was now dreaming about her friends and their window-shopping trips. Since all of the group's families didn't have enough money for a 1,000 dollar handbag, they would just stare at the mannequins until either the manager or owner would come and shoo them away.

On the other side of Theresa's bedroom door, Cedric was grinning and struggling not to laugh. His parents just left for some boring luncheon with this couple they met while they were shopping for groceries the other day. Knowing both of his parents, he would have at least five hours to do whatever he wanted to do. His braids were twisted back into corn rows and black rubber bands were tied off at the ends. Despite the semi-cold home, he wore red/white basketball shorts and a black beater. Like his father, he had a high resistance to cold. His mother and sister would always complain about them turning up the air conditioning well beyond the average temperature.

Cedric turned the knob very slowly and cautiously walked through the doorway. He pressed his right foot down, but stopped when he heard a squeak coming from the floor. He froze and looked up at Theresa in her bed. She let out something between a growl and a groan. The "ninja" took off into her direction. His feet galloped across the floor which caused his prey to open her eyes and stare at him. Before she could ask what he was doing, her brother leaped and collapsed onto her bed. She was sandwiched between the matress and her brother, who was now laughing and gasping for breath. "Ugh, you're heavy, idiot! Get off!" Theresa pushed her brother on to the floor.

While Cedric was still laughing, Theresa was rubbing her sore legs with her hands. She glared at him with a scowl. She hated herself for thinking he won't do anything painful or unusual to wake her up. In New York, he used a mini-blow horn so she could go to the basketball court. "Why can't you be a normal brother and wait 'til the clock wakes me up?" She screamed.

Cedric got to his feet and brushed himself off. "Get up and get dressed. We're going on a walk."

"I'm not going anywhere, _Cedric_. I'm tired and if you jump on me again, I'll throw your skinny butt out there." Theresa pointed out the window.

When the parents are away, Theresa's ticked off personality unleashes. She claims her brother purposely pushes her "buttons" and she has to retaliate. She says somewhat hurtful things to her brother, but she doesn't have the audacity to do them. It's her way of venting without physically destroying something. Cedric just smiled and ran out of the room. His sister was about to chase after him, but she'll eventually get back at him like she usually does.

Theresa decided to not go back to sleep because Cedric probably has something worse than jumping on her. She dragged her feet over to the small closet, taking it as slow as possible. "Oh, Terri." _Oh, God. What he want now?_

Theresa hadn't turned around so she was taken by surprised by the sudden cold and wet feeling on her back. She gasped and her eyes widened. "You are so dead, boy!" Her voice deepened.

The brother let out a mocking feminine gasp. He fanned himself like he was going to faint. "I'm so scared. " He giggled.

Theresa spun on her heel and marched over to the door like she was going to do something. Cedric dropped his smile and ran out to the front door. Satisfied by his reaction, she turned around and used the heel of her right foot to close the door. She glanced over her shoulder now and again just in case "Chuckie" decided to come back with a bazooka or something. The white thick sweater and black vested jacket matched her light blue jeans she picked out from her closet. Figured it's going to be chilly and a bit windy, she dug into her duffel bag for her black gloves with faux fur at the cuffs. All dressed up for "adventure", she forgot that her tennis shoes weren't actually "forest-ready". The rubber soles weren't thick enough for rough terrain, and they would be giving her some painful sores later on.

Ten minutes later, Theresa came out with her mom's brown boots on. Since they had roughly the same sized shoe, they occasionally swapped shoes. Just to make sure, she left a note to her parents about the siblings' outing on the kitchen table. While jogging over to the front door, she reached over to the adjacent set of metal hooks. On the first one, the spare cabin key was hanging down by the metal ring that held it. She lifted it off the hook and opened the front door. Before walking out the storm door, she locked the interior door.

While Theresa went into the forest with her brother, her phone was ringing with "dad" on the caller ID. The automated voice began to speak to an empty room. "You have reached 341-52—" The phone suddenly gave off a small explosion from an apparent overload. It wasn't just the phone disconnected; the entire area was cut off from society. The large transformer towers dislodged from the insulated wires, causing them to fall with an eerie screech and groan. Some electronic appliances were damaged in the blast.

Theresa and Cedric collasped as the soundwave blanketed the area, rippling out in all directions. Cries of pain flowed from their vocal cords. The energy pulsated through their ears and brain, temporary deafening them both. Birds in nearby trees were hit the hardest. Their connection to the planet's magnetic field was overcome, causing them to fall from the sky dead. The female teen was hugging a nearby tree trunk before slumping down, scrapping the faux fur onto the rough and scabby bark. Her palms were nicked with scratches. She squinted her eyes and quicky shook her head to shake away the numbing pain. "Ow." She whimpered.

Unfortunately for her younger sibling, he had flipped over the top of a fallen, partially decayed log and rolled down a sloped hole. Just as it suddenly came, the ripples were gone with in moments. When Cedric's hearing came back, he proceeded to stand up, but the fall had caused his knee cap was bruised and it was tender to the touch. His lower lip had a small cut and his clothes were dirty. "Terri!" He shouted.

Theresa turned around at the sound of her name. She pushed off the trunk and walked over to the location of the shout. "Down here!" Cederic said.

Looking down, Theresa glared at her brother. " I'm so tempted to just leaving you here." She said with an underlining growl.

"Just come down here and help out." Cedric retorted.

Theresa scuffed and climbed over the log. Since the slope wasn't that steep, she slid down without any trouble. Her bottom had a dark brown stain, but she could always wash her pants later. She ran a hand through her hair before grasping her little brother's outreached hand. "What the heck was that?"

Cedric hissed with discomfort as he gradually stood up. His knee grinded and popped as his leg straightened out. He flexed the leg a few times. "How should I know? Maybe some jet crashed." He shrugged. Theresa stood there while he held his hand on her shoulder for support. As ususal, his easy going personality was oblivious to danger. Being the "smart" sibling, she knew something was off. If it was some type of crash, there wouldn't be just some soundwave. Since it was felt so close, there would be debris from the explosion. There were no natural explanations for that. "Hey, let's get back home. I rather stick with video games than a hike, anyway." Cedric brought back Theresa from her thinking.

" Then why did you freaking bring me out here? Ugh! If you wanted the 'nature experience', go watch the 'Animal Planet'!"Theresa pushed him away.

Cedric yelped before falling to the ground. His face fell right into a frozen body of anothe victim of the soundwave. Feeling something feathery shoved up his nostrils, he sprang back up again. A pinched nerve zapped a nearby muscle in his leg, sharp pain went through from his knee to his ankle. "ARG! Thanks alot for my broken leg!" He kicked at her with his other foot.

Theresa honestly hated her brother getting hurt. Call it "mother's sympathy" or some psychological thing, but she still had a heart. She groaned. She couldn't throw him over her shoulder like a fireman. She **knows** that she can't carry him. Cedric looked up at her. "Alright, just stay still. I think I remember some medical thingy from TV." She said before running over to the downward sloped part of the log, which was wedged into the ground. " That sounds encouraging, Terri." He said with an underlining moan.

"Do you want me to leave you down here to be some wolf's next meal? Because I can just go." The girl said, turning toward the embankment. Cedric shook his head. " Nope, I'm good." He smiled with his smeared cheeks showing.

Theresa rolled her eyes before looking over the thickness of the branches. The "thingy" she was talking about was a splint that some hardcore survival guy talked about. She didn't remember his name, but she figured she can fix one up. While she was trying to snap off the branches, Cedric looked around the hole. There was a hollowed out tunnel, but by the looks of it, it was pretty deep and no light shined through it. "Hey, do you got any flashlights on ya?" He asked without looking at her. "No. I wasn't expecting to stay out before dark. Why?" She said between the grunts of frustration. She finally got some that were strong enough, but some splinters were stuck under both of her palm's surfaces.

"Take off your shirt. I need something to tie with." Theresa said, looking at his black "tank top".

"What? Come on. Can't you find some root or something?" He turned to look at her. " It's bad enough I can't walk, but now you gotta take away my clothes?" He plead with his big brown eyes.

Theresa glared at Cedric and crossed her arms. " Suck it up. It's just a tank top." She said, holding out her other hand, which was empty of sticks.

Cedric sighed and groaned. He crossed his arms and gripped on the bottom of his shirt. As he was pulling over, there was clicking and skittering echoing from the depths of the tunnel in front of them. "Seriously, 'kids lost in the woods, one of them gets hurt, mysterious noises..' what's next? Big Foot's gonna come out of there? This is like some stupid 60s' horror movie!" Theresa complained.

Cedric had stopped mid-raising of his arms. He lowered his arms and froze in place. While Theresa was going on about how she hated being here and blaming him for dragging her along, bright red lights creeped along the walls of the tunnel. "Terri..." She stopped in the middle of a word and looked at her brother, who then pointed at the once empty tunnel.

The lights grew in intensity when they came around a slight bend in the tunnel. Smashing Roots of different sizes and width drew shadows at the floor. The shadows drew long, thick lines like daggers, aiming at both teenagers. "I don't remember Big Foot with anything glowing. Did you?" He laughed nervously.

Theresa dropped the sticks in her hand and ran over to her brother. "Not gonna stick around to find out!" She knelt down and wrapped her arms around her brother. She started to pull the 120lb boy, but Cedric was a bit to heavy. "Come on! Help me drag you up the side!" He had been staring at the lights, but shook his head to get the daze out of him.

Cedric pushed off with his leg and the added leverage only helped a little with his sister dragging him. Blood pounded in both of their ears. Sweat was starting to seep through Theresa's pores. Crunches from the undergrowth in the tunnel echoed outward to the opening. By the sounds of it, they were possibly two of "them". Whatever "they" were. "You better hurry!" Laughing joined in with the taunting, scratchy voice.

The sun's rays casted down between the towering trees. It shined down at the foot of the tunnel, which glistened when clawed, metallic feet hit the bend of light. Cedric stopped struggling, but Theresa didn't stop until she lost her footing and slipped right down on the slope. She was moderately out of breath, but the small of amount of oxygen was squeezed out when she looked up at the top of the hill. While her brother was looking at the smaller forms of Rumble and Frenzy, _she_ was staring at huge pedes of something VERY huge. She tilted her head up to see the overwhelming and intimidating form of the symbiote's creator, Soundwave. His helm was more angled at the top and the face mask met at a razor sharp edge. Unlike many other Decepticons, he didn't have any optics. He had a visor with bright amber light source behind. He stared back at her, taking in her biological information in. By the looks of her, she was capable of grunt work. Her arms were thin and her body mass was about average for her age.

Megatron was taking in the information being transmitted from his third-in-command into his CPU. He smiled and bared his fangs at the marroon scaled screen. Starscream and his trine of brothers should be finishing up their " Autobot base attack" right now if everything was going as planned. **Take the femme, let Rumble finish the wounded fleshling off.** Megatron's cold hearted words were sent to Soundwave's private comlink.

"Rumble: terminate male. " The teens didn't know if it was the voice or the words spoken that scared them the most. Soundwave had no emotion expressed vocally, but his visor glowed a darker shade of amber with red shades blending in.

_This is why I hate nature._ Theresa moaned with fear written all over her face.

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**Thank you for reading and please review. Sorry if my chapter isn't the greatest. Don't shred it up into swiss cheese (if it's not already); please no flames. I don't need Simon Powell or Chef Ramsey screaming at me. XD (Thank you, Dark Maiden95!)**


	3. Chapter 3

The Warrior's Heart Chapter 3

"_DAD!" Theresa shrieked and clawed at the fist that clenched her. Her ribs creaked under the weight, but she kept on fighting…. How her father knew these things were here? Who was that guy with the spiky brown hair and the military gun-ho attitude? She yipped when a bullet hit close to the upper part of Soundwave's back as he walked away, deeper into the forest. While the mysterious military man was firing like a mad man at Rumble and Frenzy, her father with only a semi-automatic gun in hand was charging after the behemoth. He might not have a chance against him, but he'll be darned if he didn't try getting his daughter back._

"_Lennox!" Her father turned over to the man, who was struggling with the two minicons and their plasma cannons mounted on their wrists. Theresa's tears finally broke from the corner of her eyes when she saw her bruised and unconscious brother. She knew he had to be dead. She heard the sickening crunches of his ribs cracking when Rumble pounded into him with his pistons._

* * *

The broken, dumped body laid motionless in the corner of Soundwave's . Small whimpers and grunts of anger escaped the human. Her face was marred with scratches and her skin tone was now darker from the dirk smeared on her cheeks. Her hair was matted and because of lack of hygiene was now more curly than straight. Her clothes were shredded and her shoes were long lost after kicking Soundwave's arm. Knowing that her "attack" was a waste of energy, Soundwave "sedated" her with his sonic cannon. Her said captor was presently in the room with her. He disregarded her as he went on doing his own tasks on the large computer in his barracks. Luckily, Rumble and Frenzy weren't there to pester him or taunt the girl while she was immobile. As for the lower ranking soldiers, they knew it would be death for them if they even thought about messing with the mech's belongings. The other Decepticons on the _Nemesis_ knew when Soundwave's around. His energy signature is an obvious answer, but the energy changes when the 3rd in command entered the room. If Cybertronians had human spines, there would be waves after waves of chills running down them. The scene of someone probing their minds would scatter many of the weaker 'Cons out of Soundwave's way. The face was covered from letting anyone ever seeing what his facial expressions were or if he ever had any emotions. Rumors were that he was Megatron's first drone or that some Autobot destroyed his face and he hid the scars from the universe. Past victims would plead for mercy by looking into his visor, but they found no gleeful smirk of satisfactory or superiority in his eyes. At times when an occasional femme would be found, he never begged for Megatron to give her to him. He wasn't interested in the sport that other lustful mechs wanted.

Soundwave's barracks were plain with no scene of possession. His recharge berth blended into the wall. Some preferred to have it horizontal, but Soundwave chose to be vertical. The glass covering was cylinder shaped. The padding was metallic mesh and a quick release button was positioned on the height of Soundwave's forearm. Of course, not all Cybertronians are the same height, so it wasn't the same as the others on board the ship. The rest of the room was barren except for some symbiote sized "cubby" holes on the adjacent wall. That was the place where if Soundwave's own "children" would sleep. Since they were so numerous, they couldn't all fit into his body. Laserbeak and Ravage are normally the ones hide by his spark chamber. As for now, Theresa was going to call this place "home". The human teenager twitched her hand as a neurological side effect of the sonic blast. Her caretaker's fingers froze mid stroke and he slowly turned in his rotating chair. He wasn't trained as a medic, but he could tell that she was finally arousing from her stasis lock. He calculated that she would awaken in less than two minutes. He sent out a quick message via com-link to his master, Megatron. **I will be there shortly, Soundwave. Initiate your new…"program"**, Megatron replied.

Theresa moaned out loudly and brought up her hands to her pain-stricken temples. She squeezed her eyelids before finally opening them up. Small flickering, black dots danced over her eyes before they faded away. She slowly rolled over to her back, which caused her migraine to return momentarily. She didn't have to worry about the status of her hearing when she heard this crackling, lightening sound and the sound of some laser firing. She looked over to see the mysterious "robot" shoot the ground with this rippling spray of light. The flash blinded her a bit, but she rubbed at her eyes to bring back the focus. When she rested her hand back to her chest, she saw some human guy looking over himself like this was the first time he saw himself. She gradually pulled herself to a sitting position. (She _knew_ that standing up would send her _right_ back down to the ground.) "Where am I?" She asked with a mixture of anger and confusion.

The human guy turned his gaze to her and his eyes flashed for a second in red. " What. Am. I. Doing. Here?" Theresa asked with more aggression. She looked over the guy and wondered if he had any label or symbol on his clothes that would shine SOME light on her location. She was so focused on the guy, she somehow completely forgot about her "caretaker" standing behind him. The light illuminating from the enormous computer console created a white silhouette of light around the guy. Judging by the clothes, he had a navy "hoodie" close to his figure with a charcoal gray jeans and some weird contoured triangle thing on his right shoulder blade. Since the light wasn't the greatest, the thing wasn't that much detailed, but Theresa guessed it was purple. The "hoodie" was pulled up so his hair was hidden underneath. "Slave: cease talking now. Consequences: punishment given by Lord Megatron."

Theresa's conscience was screaming her not to reply to the "slave" remark. The way he said it was very stiff and something like a human never would say a sentence (much less a threat). The guy walked over to her and reached down to pull her to her feet. Seeing that she wasn't in the "mood" to fight, she let him help her up. When her equilibrium was balanced out, she let go of his arm for support. She was close enough to look at the symbol on his shoulder blade and the memories of being carried off by that "robo-King Kong" came rushing back. She finally realized how the human and the bluish robot sounded. _I know I got my head scrambled, but come on! I'm not THAT slow on the uptake. Stupid trashcan!_ She bit her lip and stumbled away from him. If it wasn't enough for her sudden freaking out of giant robots, the chamber door hissed and parted open, revealing two more robots. The slimmer and slightly shorter one turned the lighting dial to a higher setting. The other one had an authoritative feel about him with a big, "muscular" build to match._ If his name is "Juicer" or "Jock-tron", I'm going to laugh like I'm nuts._ His eyes were fueled with a caged fury like if someone breathed wrong, they will regret it. _Whoever he's mad at, I would __not__ be __him__ right now._ Theresa gulped mentally.

The larger one glared down at Theresa, who mentally screamed in fright. His head was partially torn off. She saw this reddish glow peaking out of his "skull", matching the colors of his eyes. Something skittered across his head and zapped at the jagged edges of the opened wound. "Fleshling, you will never leave this ship. Nor will you be able to contact your vile race. You are here to _serve_ me. I am your master, Lord Megatron. Your life, that so-called 'name', and everything you know means NOTHING to me." She cringed when he emphasized "nothing". " You are nothing and will always be nothing. You will be cleaning, fixing, and anything _else _that we tell you while you are with us. If you do so happen to escape, which I very much doubt it, you will be branded as a traitor. Every Decepticon on this ship, including me, will hunt you down until your life is distinguished." Theresa narrowed her eyebrows ready to spew out her rebuttal.

"Seeing as I enjoy punishing my own subordinates, I will _have _to punish you. Trust me.." Megatron projected his holoform's beam until it solidified. Starscream followed suit. Theresa turned to run to the other side of the room, but Megatron grabbed her by the back of the collar. "Get back here, fleshling!" He spun her around and transferred his grip to her neck. Although, he was still injured from the Egyptian battle, he still had majority of his strength left.

Theresa gasped and tried to pull the hand away. Unwanted tears trickled down from her eyes Megatron's holoform had dark gray crew cut hair style with heavy scarring over his right eye. The spider web scar branched down to the corner of his scowl. His clothing was a dark gray, almost military attire, buisness suit._Great, I _had_ to anger Hitler-Hulk!_ Starscream smirked at how Theresa was silently pleading to be released. His form fitted his personality as well. His hair was partially shaved from the base of the neck to the middle. The rest of hair was slicked back and in a small ponytail. His skin tone was a bit paler than Megatron's. His attire was approximately like an Air Force soldier's suit, but with the Decepticon symbol and "seeker" written in Cybertronian under it. The Air Commander may have disapproved of this idea, but he always loved seeing Megatron taking his frustration on someone other than himself. "You will not like the consequences of your actions. If I so much as hear a whisper of your failures or attitude, I will come and beat you down until I feel like it's over. I know every crevice of this ship and the compound we are going to. If you think you can run from me, you are sadly mistaken, human scum. Don't even think that I will _touch _you in some sexual manner so you can delete that coding right now. Even if you were a _femme_, I'd still treat you like the waste of space you are." Theresa wheezed against his grip, trying to say something.

Megatron let go of her neck and nodded his head, giving her permission to speak. " (cough/wheeze) Even..if _you_ were a human, you wouldn't be my type (cough), 'Scarface'." She rubbed at her aching throat with a sly grin on her face. Starscream was amused by her attitude unlike his leader who lunged at her, but Soundwave stepped in front of her.

"Permission: transport slave to the medic bay." Soundwave stated quickly.

Theresa could see Soundwave's black, choppy hair with blue highlights since the hood was pulled back off his head. Megatron was ready to offline Soundwave for interfering, but visions of Theresa seeing Scalpel for her "upgrade" excited him. "Permission granted, but first.." Soundwave stepped aside.

The girl's jaw throbbed with pain when Megatron punched her with his right hook. She yelped when her bone buckled under the force. She was surprised she was still standing, let alone breathing. She definitely knew that she was going to have a large bruise in the morning. Her lower lip was split and a small dab of blood was felt when she touched it. " Now, anything else you'd like to say to me, Theresa?" He clenched her lower jaw with his right hand, forcing her to look at his crazed eyes.

Theresa exhaled and tried to hold back the painful tears. "No, sir." Her words were drowning with hatred towards Megatron and his "I'm more superior than everyone in the universe" theology. He smiled with his slightly pointed teeth. He chuckled and looked over to Starscream. "Let's go, Starscream." He said, letting her go and disabled his human program.

* * *

** Evil cliffy. Scalpel is gonna be hard to write because I never wrote in a foreign accent. Before you ask, no, she's not gonna be a Cybertronian. She's gonna get some…(Gotcha!) Oh! Starscream's robot mode is more G1/Prime combo. Sorry I didn't get to go into detail. For his human mode, the "Chronicles of Riddick" (Vin Diesel movie) had this back-stabbing 2****nd**** in command with this weird hair style.(That commander sounds like another being we know?) If you look him up, his name is "Vaako". It's not as "Sookie poof" as Vaako's or long, black hair, but that's the general hairdo. Read and review if you want. I'm not begging, but it would be pretty cool to see what you like or dislike. Peace out!**


	4. Chapter 4

The Warrior's Heart Chapter 4 "Doctors' visit"

**~Okay, the title isn't a typo. Ratchet sees a certain human, while Scalpel (aka "Doctor") sees our female victim. Some people were wondering about the Cons' holoforms. Megatron: Silas (TF Prime) or as Anasazi Darkmoon pointed out, Colonel Quaritch from "Avatar". (Don't remember the movie? Think of the tall aliens with the freaky pony tails.) Starscream: Second-in-command Vaako from Chronicles of Riddick. Soundwave: my own evil creation with some inspiration from DA. Credits for songs will be after the chapter. ~**

* * *

_ Search for the answers I knew all along._

_ I lost myself, we all fall down._

_ Never the wiser of what I've become._

_ Alone I stand a broken man._

Memories of the blast still shook him to his very core. That unstoppable piece of machinery destroyed every living thing at Qatar, well, except for him. Derek never understood why God spared him while the others died when the attack happened. He was a copilot in one of the cargo planes, one of which was destroyed when the machine blasted each of them with his powerful concussion blast. When Derek was found under the rubble, he had a gaping hole in his head and the lower portion of his leg was missing. Even with psychiatric help, the nightmares never stopped. His wife stayed by his side through everything. She held him until the tears stopped. She turned the other cheek when he would accidentally hit her during the night while he was fighting his invisible demons. When he saw his children's worried faces, he did everything he could do to stop him from going under. He didn't want them to cry over his coffin. He was _not _going to be another number in the PTSD suicide rates.

_ All I have is one last chance._

_ I won't turn my back on you._

_ Take my hand, drag me down._

_ If you fall them I will too._

_ And I can't save what's left of you._

Theresa has been gone for a day and already, the US government has thrown the hope of her coming back. Alive, at least. Derek knew there was a chance that she'd escape, but it was a very slim one at that. Just like the chance that his son will recover. He looked down at Cedric with his darkened eyes. He glared at the bandages that held his ribs in place. Realistically, they should be shards, but the smaller robot held back. Who knows if he would have done if Lennox or Derek didn't arrive there on time? The young teenager was comatose and knocking on death's door. Three times. Three times Doctor Ratchet had to revive him. Each time left another stab in the parents' hearts. The older doctor had silver, thick hair and metallic blue eyes with gray swirls mixed in the irises. He had a certain gruff exterior about him, but he was very caring of his patient. In fact, _he_ was the one to throw a wrench at Director Theodore Galloway when he shoved a "confidential agreement" in Derek's face. Galloway didn't say that the machines were aliens, but Derek knew they weren't exactly some advanced Japanese toy. The larger one wasn't exactly lively, but it had a feel of sentience and that unworldly aura surrounding it. The smaller ones were more agile and less calculating like some flying drone. If Derek wouldn't have known better, they were enjoying the fight and beating his son. That _really _enraged Derek to keep firing. He was so blinded by the rage that he followed after the larger one while Lennox was trying to keep up with the smaller "drones". He has never seen his daughter scream like that in her life. True, she cried when she was a baby, but this was sheer terror of what's coming next. She wanted her "daddy", but he couldn't save her.

_ Say something new._

_ I have nothing left._

_ I can't fast the darkness without you._

_ There's nothing left to lose._

_ The fight never ends._

_ I can't face the darkness without you. _

Derek looked around the small medical room. Steel plated cabinets are bolted on the wall on both sides of the door leading to the hallways. On the right side of the door is a sink with a dispenser for gloves and masks. On the adjacent wall, another gray metal door is marked as the entrance to the bathroom. The back wall is covered with state-of-the-art monitors that shows the vitals as well as the plastic containers, storing IV fluid and numerous medications. Believe it or not, the military didn't take the boy to the hospital nearby due to the "special circumstances." The medic stabilized him on site then airlifted him and the rest of the family (on a separate helicopter) to Diego Garcia, an island military base in the Pacific Ocean. The bunker the boy was rushed off had a very large elevator leading to the secret base below. The elevator opened to reveal large labyrinth hallways. It was surprising how the soldiers there could maneuver in it. In fact, the walls were very tall, possibly 30 feet tall and roughly 20 feet across. "So, how long will it take, doc?" He asked.

The older male turned away from his young apprentice, who rubbed his black hair before walking back over to the sink to retrieve some more gauze. "For someone with less damaged ribs, a month. For Cedric, about two months. This boy has gone through a traumatic and almost fatal attack. It's amazing this boy is even alive." He said, beckoning "Jolt" (a call sign, the doctor explained) over to the bed.

The apprentice slowly turned the boy onto his side. Even though his back was cushioned with many pillows, in fear that his ribs might get damaged even more, they were still cautious when handling him. The boy occasionally whimpered and Derek would look over to see if he'd wake up, but it was still too soon. "Why don't you go down to mess hall, Mr. and Mrs. Butler? You look like you need some nourishment." Doctor Ratchet said, nodding over to the door heading out to the hallway. That was another unusual thing about him: he didn't talk casual, but always serious. He didn't say they looked hungry, but they needed "nourishment". _I guess that's just his doctor talk. _Derek kept telling himself.

"I rather stay here." Wendy said with a trembling voice. Derek went over to his wife and wrapped his muscular arms around her shoulders. "Let's go, Wendy. I'm sure there's a pot of coffee with your name on it." He said with a small smile.

Derek walked to the door with his wife close to his side. The reason why she hasn't collapsed from exhaustion was the strong, but comforting grip around her waist. He turned the knob and two soldiers were casually talking, but straightened up when they came through. They weren't exactly soldier-esque. Both of them had roughed up hair like some boys do at high school. One of them was a brunette and his hair was draped behind his ear. The hair in the back wasn't visible, but Derek figured it was cut pretty short and close to the scalp. His eyes had a mischievous tinge to it. Again, they were blue like the two medical personnel in the other room. Unlike the older male, both of them had a more of a darker, but youthful blue color. The other one had his arms crossed and leaning against the wall. He _clearly_ didn't want to be here. His face read like an open book. His slight scowl was see-through. Either he didn't like the family being here or he wanted to go after whoever attacked Cedric. This one had a more unruffled hairstyle unlike his brother. Gel was clearly used, but not too much. The blonde sat up. "We're to escort you down to the mess hall, Mr. Butler." The brunette said with a cheerful smile.

"Just Derek. They sent two greenhorns to escort us? I'd expected you two to be more…mature. Come on, boys. You need to lose the model hair. Have you ever heard of a buzzcut?" Derek chuckled, looking over at the blonde.

The blonde haired boy _growled_ at the father. "You did NOT just insult me, sq-"The brother elbowed him.

Wendy and Derek were taken back how the soldier reacted. There was something definitely going on at the base that Derek wasn't figuring out. Maybe it's his "old war wounds" acting up, but he had a feeling he and his family were being watched by something. If he only knew that he was right. Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, had been listening in on the conversation. If the couple had went down the hallway leading to the main one and turned left, they would have seen his robotic mode. Thanks to the reinforced floor, his foots steps were muffled.

** :Major Lennox, I believe that the façade cannot be hidden for long. We may have to introduce them to us.:**

Lennox sighed.** :Hey, I agree with you, Optimus. I really do, but we have to limit civilians learning about you guys.:**

** :Major, I have located Derek Butler's military file. He was at Qatar base the one you were at as well. He tried to escape Blackout's attack, but he was found injured. He ****knows**** about us already.:**

** :Yeah, I know, but I just don't like it, Optimus. You told us that the Decepticons really don't do things at random. What do they want with this girl, Theresa?:**

Silence was on the line of the shared comlink. Optimus didn't really know either. **: Optimus! You need ta get down here. NOW!: **Ironhide blared over Optimus' comlink. **: They just made contact.:**

* * *

The ammonia, fecal matter, and even crued oil were mixed into a cesspool of stench that was known as Scapel's lab. Poor organic and inorganic species were tortured and eventually killed by this miniscule Decepticon medic. True, he was the size of a toddler, but he had other comrades in his profession. Theresa had been tossed into the room by Starscream. Before she could snap at him for being rough, the door slammed shut, locking in place. There was no going back. If it wasn't the stench that freaked her out, it was the rows upon rows of cages lining the back wall. Whimpers and other animal noises were heard from within some. The lab was the size of a football field and roughly 40 feet high. The lighting was normally lit, but the lab was completely gray. The only color that Theresa saw from her angle was from the purple glowing bars that locked the animals in.

She didn't know that Megatron was in the next room, which was basically a showroom for him and his men. He was smiling and snickering at how Theresa was reacting to this horror-filled room. He touched one of the buttons on the miniature keypad on his right chair arm. A security camera was lowered out of the raptures and aimed at the mirror, which was a two-way mirror. " I will enjoy this." His eyes burned brightly.

_ You put my back against the wall._

_ Watching, waiting._

_ You never thought I'd get that far_

_ Beneath your skin._

The demented medic was presently inspecting one of his experiments: a Siberian Husky with cyberhound blood transfused into his blood. The canine was suppose to be more wild because of the alien DNA, but the animal was actually more sentient. He didn't talk, but he was fully aware what was going on. He was called the "problem experiment" because he could always figured to get out of the medbay, which should have been impossible. Twice, he had tore off a panel with his newly evolved metallic claws and fangs. His eyes were still icy blue, but it too had changed. Closely looking into the eye, one can see the small gears churning like an optic.

_ I watched you swim with all your lies._

_ They pulled you under._

"Aw, my new patient haz arrived!" Scapel said happily. Theresa looked at him with a confused look. He did have that gritty, robotic voice, but he also had some type of accent. She wasn't sure, but she thought it was Russian.

Theresa started to scramble away when the metallic shrimp jumped down from his perch and skittered over to her. "Get me out of here!" She screamed, pounding on the door.

Scapel let out an annoyed sigh. He transformed one of his pinchers into a small blade. He sliced at her ankles. Theresa cried out and fell to the ground. She turned over to her back and kicked at the medic. He flew back about 5 feet. If Theresa wasn't in so much pain, she would have laughed at how she punted him. He came back and pounced on her chest. She moved to throw him again, but he brought the blade to her throat. "Now, vill jou cooperate or do I have to bring Megatron in heya?" He asked.

Theresa glared at him. "Goot. Now, follow me!" Scalpel jumped off and skittered over to the massive tables.

Theresa could feel some of her blood soaking into her socks and down to skin on her feet. She gritted her teeth, but kept following after Scalpel. She looked up at the underside of the table. It had a large central support beam, but had smaller cylinder shaped bars branched out and welded to the underside. "Come, squishy!" Scalpel tapped his pincher onto the metal support beam.

Theresa froze when a hidden elevator door opened up. _He must've pressed some keypad or something. Ugh, what does this guy want with me?_ She resumed walking and followed Scalpel into the elevator shaft. It closed when she entered it with the medic. The pressure sensors triggered the elevator to move upward. Theresa had to duck down because of how low the shaft was. The elevator stopped when it got to the top of the table. The walls shifted down and Theresa followed Scalpel out. When the shaft went back down, the two drawn back panels closed back.

"Now, take off yaw clothes." He ordered.

"Aw, heck now! I don't care if you bring out Megatron, I'm not doing crap!" Theresa mimicked his accent when she mentioned "Megatron". She glared and crossed her arms.

Scalpel cursed and clicked in his native tongue. Another hidden door on the adjacent wall opened up and a rusted, patchy robot stepped through the doorway. His eyes were pale blue, but at the center was tinted purple and red. He groaned flatly and marched over to his master. He didn't acknowledge Theresa. He just stared at the wall. "Pin her down!" Scalpel said with irritation.

Theresa squealed when the monster came alive and shoved her down with his three-fingered hand. She pushed at his hands and she could feel the corrosive burns, scratches, and gashes that marred his hand. _Okay, this is getting freakin' old!_ She growled as she tried effortlessly to get his hand off of her. She could breath somewhat fine, but she wasn't going to relax just because "Igor" was pinning her down. Scalpel smiled and chuckled. "I warned jou to behave, but jou didn't listen." He bounced over to her feet happily. He had two shackles in his hand. He clamped one on to each ankle, which was still bleeding and irritated from his earlier attack. The shackles magnetized to each other with a loud clang.

_ I'm learning who you really are,_

_ And nothing can save you._

_ I will fight until the end, get ready to collide._

_ And I will watch you fall again._

_ I'll bury you alive._

_ You tried to bring me to my knees._

_ You tried to take it all. _

_ Now I will stand and watch you crawl._

Megatron snickered at Theresa's screams of rage. He narrowed his eyes. _Your weak race imprisoned and took me apart for many years. Now, it's my turn to return the favor, fleshling._ Megatron wasn't just doing this because he felt like getting a human as a recruit. He wanted revenge because of Sector Seven and humanity for his stasis lock. He also knew if he took something precious to _Prime_, the leader will be shaken to his core. He's too soft in Megatron's optics. True, he could fight, but he's too grounded by his emotions. He remembered when he captured Elita-1, Optimus' sparkmate. He can still hear her pleas to let her go. She was like Theresa at first, but he broke her just like the weakling she was. He would have finished her if it wasn't for the heroic rescue. This time, Megatron will beat Optimus with his spark.

* * *

** Okay, sorry if this is very long or too long for you guys. LOL. I was planning on going to what Scalpel was going to do. I felt like I should get more emotion, not just "Megatron did this. Theresa did this." Don't ask me why I brought in the animal thing. I randomly thought of that while writing during one of my lunch breaks. Thank you for Anasazi Darkmoon for the accent tips. I was planning on writing more of him, but I decided to cut this chapter into two parts. Sorry if there isn't a lot of action in here. It's going to be darker in the next one so beware. Song credits time!  
**

**1)** "**Without You" by Breaking Benjamin ( I tried to find a song that sorta went along with how Derek was feeling. This song's apparently about some guy and his girlfriend or something, but you get the idea. LOL)**

**2) **"**Watch You Crawl" by RED (an awesome Christian rock band; this is more of Megatron's and Theresa's song "talking" to each other. Yeah, you can probably understand it if you listen to the song.**

** Well, there you have it! Sorry it took FOREVER! Blame evil college life and finals! Happy holidays! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

The Warrior's Heart Chapter 5 "Doctors' visit: Part 2"

** ~ Okay, I was going to stop with the whole explanation author's note and let you guys enjoy the chapter without me (more or less) yammering along. Two things then I'll be out of your hair, I promise. One: it was EXTREMELY hard to find a song that sort of fits Megatron's and Optimus' situation. (No, this isn't a slash.) I swear, I could not find a single song without some love betrayal in the lyrics. I finally found one and it's "Just Like You" by Three Days Grace. I'm not going to write out the lyrics, but you guys should probably listen to it especially on Youtube AMVs. ;) The second thing is that the editor on this website apparently doesn't like indents so sorry if the paragraphs were like that. My English Lit OCD was going off like crazy! Sorry, English 101 lingered over the years. My professor was really strict on grammar and indents so yeah…. Anyways, let's get "Part two" underway.**

** Thank you for the two reviews, ladies! And as always, I don't own Transformers, but I do own my OCs and "Igor". Also WARNING: GRAPHIC MEDICAL PROCEDURE and some mentions of nudity.~ **

Scalpel cursed with frustration with trying to work on the shrieking, writhing human. Her wrists were pinned down to her sides and her ankles with strong magnetic clamps. Even though she was _clearly_ restrained, she still seemed to buck him off her chest. "Hold still! Primus, you are a handful!" He stabbed her with his right pinchers. "Arg!" The human's scream of pain escaped from her mouth. She looked down at her thigh, which had a pencil sized hole with blood flowing from it. From the wound, the pants leg was soaked with the dark stained blood.

" Zat vill teach you not to disobey me! I could throw you to zhose wretched Insections right now, but I have to finish yaw transformation!" Scalpel yelled while pointing his pincher at her with anger. His internal fans were working overtime to calm down his circuitry. "What freaking transformation?" She shouted with a mixture of anger and fear.

The lobotomized Transformer's rusted and crumbling joint groaned and strained as he brought up his left fist to Scalpel's level. He never moved his eyes and didn't even say a word as he uncurled his fist to his master, revealing the small toolbox. Scalpel giggled with glee. He leaned down and stuck his hands down into the box. Theresa tilted her head upward to see what the demented doctor was bringing out. _Great, I'm stuck with Dr. Frankenstein and he's acting like he just got the 'motherload' at some stupid sci-fi convention. Ugh. _ Theresa moaned internally. Her eyes widened when he stood back up with a rather large collar and other weird pieces of metal in his hands. "Now, zhis vill be fun. Vell, for me, anyvay." He cackled. Theresa was too tired from fight back at the inescapable clamps, but that didn't mean she stopped screaming names and threats back at him and Lord Megatron. "Oh, I can't wait when I get out of here. I'm gonna fry you like the shrimp you are! You and Mega-turd better let me go right now or the freaking army's gonna nuke your sorry selves". She said while Scalpel walked with a tad bit more excitement than Theresa wanted.

The Decepticon held up the collar close to Theresa's head so she can take a good long look at it. There were hundreds of thin syringe needles lining the interior of it, but there was only one small, square panel with screws locking it in, which held the circuitry for the wide speaker on the outer covering of the collar. Whenever she would speak, her English tongue would be translated into Cybertronian. " If your primitive brain somehow manages to learns how to take zhis off, you vill never speak again. " Scalpel warned.

The semi-circle collar was thrown right onto her throat, which held her vocal cords. The prongs pricked her skin deep enough to hook into the tissue. Computer-programmed nanites flooded from within the prongs. They attached themselves to the sensitive, delicate vocal cords. The human body sensed the foreign objects and when the nanites penetrated the capillaries and veins, the white blood cells went on the defense and tried to attack them, but since they weren't "organic material", the white blood cells were destroyed. Theresa bit down on her bottom lip with the searing pain coming from the nanites as they released chemicals to attack her body systems. She gagged when they reached her digestive systems. She couldn't hold back the gag reflex and threw up on herself (including Scalpel). He cursed rapidly in Cybertronian and jumped up and down like a child doing a temper tantrum. "Zhat is IT!" Theresa closed her eyes and a few tears escaped from the acid burning her neck. Seeing that she was still immobilized from the "medicine", Scalpel figured it was safe for her to be released from her restraints. She slowly rolled on her side and coughed, trying to clear her throat. If she wasn't in so much pain, she could have laughed and pointed at the vomit-doused Scalpel. She didn't mean to throw up on him, but it was just an added "bonus" (for her).

Megatron turned on the camera-like device beside him, seeing that the show was just starting to see some action. Soundwave had hacked into the NEST headquarters before and left the "door" opened for him to sneak back in, just in case he needed to. Of course, the human hackers weren't up to par for his "cyberbattle" and he knew that it wouldn't be trouble. **:Transmission: secure and functional. Ready for your command, Lord Megatron.: **Soundwave spoke through Megatron's comlink. **: Send them the feed, but keep the medic bay's speaker system blocked so they can't speak to her.: **

"_Megatron." _A hologram screen popped up on the glass window. Optimus' cold stare and deep snarl filled the screen.

"Optimus Prime, you should have known that this was going to happen eventually. You wanted to align yourself with that pathetic race, and now, they're paying the price for it. You should be glad that I didn't decide to bomb some populated city or develop some infectious disease and distribute it in the airways. Oh, I could have done _so _much more." Megatron chuckled with a toothy grin. His eyes narrowed with a leer.

" _Rest assured, Megatron, I _will_ rescue her. No matter where you hide, I _will _find her and rip out your retched spark._" Optimus' words were dripping with anger, but he never snapped at Megatron. His eyes never moved from Megatron's face.

Megatron looked up from Optimus' screen and moved his hand over the touch screen on his left chair arm. His talons scratched the surface as they moved around in a circle, sending a signal to the camera to face in the direction of the glass window. "Is this what you wanted back so much?" The camera zoomed onto Theresa's ashen and vomit-smeared face. Her eyes were partially open. She moaned and tried to sit up, but the nanites located near her arms and legs sensed her movement and shocked the nerves intertwined in her muscles. She gasped and jolted in pain. "Get in here, now!" Scalpel huffed and went over to Igor, who obediently picked him up with an open hand. While the two beings were leaving the medic bay via the back door, the other dogs and animals looked down at the human, wondering what was going to happen next. "Geez, Scalpel, relax. I'm here." A human-sized Transformer trotted into the room. His body was completely silver and had a very humanoid, male frame. He looked like an advanced drive test mannequin that humans used for testing cars. His smile was more sharpened and thinner than a human. He walked over to the elevator's location and stepped in, whisking him up to the top of the table. "Oh, what do we have here? Teenage girl?" He shook his head in disbelief.

Scalpel debriefed him on the situation and told him to finish up on the metallic patches. "Hey, girly." The Transformer nudged her with his foot and knelt down beside of her. Feeling like he needed to have a "human touch", he activated his human disguise, "Dylan". Liquid, malleable metal oozed out of the crevices and creases covering his body. The metal hardened and turned into synthetic, but thick, black/silver hair that stood upward and then folded backward. Black hair stubble covered his chin, jaw line, and his upper lip. His eyes turned from deep red to blue with a grayish tint. His abs were well defined which were covered with a dark gray t-shirt and black jeans. The remnants of the metal dissolved and molded into black tennis shoes. He snatched the girl's shirt collar and lifted her upward to face him. Her eyesight was blurred and small flickers of light flashed in her vision. It was hard for her to concentrate on her movements also due to the nanites that found her way to her cerebrum, the front of her brain. She was shivered as her body was starting to get colder then back to normal again, another aspect that the cerebrum is responsible for. "Gonna have to cut this hair off yours." Dylan smiled as he positioned himself behind her and tilted her head back. Theresa didn't know what he said and she really didn't care. Her head was spinning and her pelvis area was burning and bubbling with discomfort. The Pretender found a straight razor in the toolbox that Scalpel left behind and proceeded to shave the top and the left side of her hair off, while hacking off the rest of the hair since they only got in his way. Oh, how Theresa will react when she comes out of her stupor.

Since Theresa was a female, she had other bodily changes like every female. Megatron grimaced and cursed the human race when Scalpel explained it to him before. He didn't want the girl "desecrating" his ship so he wanted that thing to stop, not caring if anything happened to her. The other Autobots and the soldiers in the communications room were absolutely livid as Dylan was handling Theresa. He held her close before picking up one of the palm-sized patches of metal. They weren't any patches of metal. One was a functioning, compacted comlink, which will go on the left side of her skull behind her ear and where the temporal lobe was located. The other patch was a tracking device and would be placed on top of her head, nestled behind her hairline. Ratchet, as well as Dylan and Scalpel, knew the only what those could stick to the skull would be to practically screw it into the skull. And that's why Dylan did. Theresa cried out in pain as he cut deep into the scalp. He wrapped his legs around her waist so she would stay still. He tilted the razor as he traced around the bald spot. He switched to a small soldering rod. She screamed even louder and her tears flowed down her cheek when the hot, searing flame touched her exposed skin.

Ratchet shuddered as Dylan peeled off her skin to reveal the egg shell colored skull lying underneath. He growled when the Pretender covered her mouth and shushed her sadistically. "There, there." Theresa shook in pain. The patch was placed over her exposed skull and the mind-numbing pain reached a crescendo when the miniature drills from the underbelly of the patch burrowed into the hard bone. Dylan bear hugged her, but she kept on thrashing. He continued doing the same with the left side of her head, but he had laid her down on her side and literally sat on her. "_Leave her alone, fragger!_" Sunstreaker roared from behind Optimus, who was yelling at the human communication experts to turn it off, but they were unable to due to Soundwave. "This is a message to every organic spawn on that base: you wanted a war with me, this is your fate. I will destroy every last one of you. I don't care if you are a so-called 'soldier' or an innocent fleshling, I will make you regret that you _ever_ chose to side with Optimus. She _will_ stay with me as long as I see fit. In fact, I was thinking of keeping her the same length of time I stayed in that wretched Pit you called 'Hoover Dam'." The camera was now directed at Megatron as he was stating his message. "And Prime, I will annihilate every one of your drones if I ever sense them near our location. Consider this your _only _warning." He growled before signaling Soundwave to end the transmission.

Dylan marveled at the work. He shook his head at how resilient the girl was. She was still alive, but barely breathing. "Maybe Lord Megatron could let me keep you as a pet." He chuckled. He turned to leave, but Megatron commed him. **: Take those clothings off and give them to Skywarp. He'll know what to do.: **

Dylan reluctantly obeyed. He didn't really understand what Skywarp's going to do, but when Megatron speaks, you better fragging do it. Dylan dissolved back into his Cybertronian shell and elongated his fingers into sharp daggers. Theresa was limp as he slashed and tore her clothing off her body. He didn't know if Megatron wanted her undergarments as well so he grabbed those as well. Theresa was left naked and bleeding when the Pretender exited the medic bay. The lights turned off completely, but the cages lining the walls were brightly illuminated by the purple bars in the front. Some of the animals whined in sympathy for the poor human.

* * *

** Does anyone need a hug or maybe a trashcan? Sorry, I warned you guys and I hope you liked it. Believe it or not, this stuff really doesn't bother me. I guess seeing enough medical shows on TV sorta numbed me from the gore and stuff. Great, now I made you guys into vegans. (Not saying there's anything wrong with that.)**


	6. Chapter 6

The Warrior's Heart Chapter 6 " Awake and Alive"

**~ In this chapter, Theresa wakes up from her "vet's appointment" and gets introduced to Thundercracker and Skywarp. Sorta. ~**

Waking up to a migraine is a sign that it's going to be a _bad _day. Waking up in a small metal cage with bars made of purple-colored electricity is a sign that it's going to be a very bad day. Well, Theresa had to deal with _both _scenarios. It wasn't just a normal, "staring at the computer screen too long" migraine; this kind was the mind-numbing, temples pounding, and nauseating when she even _thought_ about moving. She moaned and growled at this frustrating migraine. She never got one of these before, except for that time she ice-skated that one time and she fell back and got a concussion. That one was nothing compared to this monster. She bit down on her tongue to try to ease the pain as she sat up. She didn't realize the ceiling was so low until she bumped her head into it. She yelped and fell back down. Shivers ran down and up her body. She wonder why she was so cold until she felt the naked feeling when her leg brushed against the oily rag someone threw on her. _They didn't!_ She patted herself down and felt only skin. "Are you kidding me!" She screamed while she pounded her fists on the floor. She closed and opened her eyes. She tilted her head forward and finally saw the crackling, round, vertical bars. That's when it settled in that she was in one of the cages she saw last night.

Theresa cocked her head and rolled over and the painful migraine sent a dizzying sensation through her head. "Okay, I'm going to seriously barf." She moaned. She got on all fours and turned around, crawling to the front of the cage. She could feel a small feel of heat and the arcs from the bars snapped at her, warning her of what will happen if she touched them. She listened to her brain and brought her hand back down to her side. "Hey, you shrimp! I know you're out there. LET ME OUT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice had woken up the other tenants around her. They barked and growled at her madly. They were practically screamed "shut up!" in dog-speak. She glared up above her and crawled back to the back of her cage as the animal noises died down. The commotion alerted Scalpel who came out with such frustration and crankiness. "Vill jou shut up! I heard jou all zhe vay in my office. Primus, I zhink Lord Megatron heard jou all zhe vay in zhe cockpit!" He cursed in German as well as Cybertronian.

Theresa internally smirked. Since she couldn't get out of the cage on her own, she just needed a helping hand, or claw for that matter. "Aw, did I wake up the wittle robot baby? I think someone needs a bottle." She said with a mocking, high-pitched tone.

Scalpel's optics flickered, symbolizing a human eye-twitch. "Vhat? Vhat did jou say? Jou VILL suffer for zhat!" Theresa's eyes widened in fear and she curled up like a frightened little girl. Scalpel turned off the bars to her cage and hopped in. The teenager snickered and she uncoiled like a snake and kicked Scalpel right in the face. He screamed as he flew out of the cage. Theresa could have fallen over laughing from how far Scalpel was kicked, but her migraine ruined her fun. His head banged on the nearby table's main support beam, causing him to spin out and crash-land and skid across the floor. The animals howled in celebration as Theresa climbed out of her cell and did a little bow. "Thank you, thank you." She chuckled. _Cedric would've been proud. _Knowing that Megatron could magically come in and have a fit for her escape, she knew she had to get out of the room. She remembered that aching jaw he gave her and she didn't want her headache to be even more intense. She didn't want to admit it, but the "master" was starting to freak her out. She's dealt with hormonal guys at school and their planet-sized egos before, but this is totally a different story. She just hated that he took her away from her family and he doesn't seem the type to give up what he caught. She turned the rag on its side and wrapped it up around her waist. It was going to be a pain to walk around in it, but she wasn't going to be walking around naked, let alone freezing.

Theresa glanced back over to Scalpel who was clearly unconscious. She walked up to the sliding doors, which surprisingly opened. She paused for a second, but leaped out of the doors closing once again. She looked both ways and since there was door right beside Scalpel's playroom, she decided to take her chances in the hallway. As she got further away, she started to hear chatter and footfalls. She could have covered her ears, but that would make the rag fall to the floor. She hugged the wall and unknowingly stood in front of an unmarked door. Automatically, red lettering in text boxes popped up in her line of vision. She yelped and nearly fell back on the floor. Her migraine sent her a reminder that it was still present. She had her hand on the door, supporting her weight which saved her from crashing on the ground. She leaned the door and brought up her hand right behind her ear, which triggered the alien chatter to be automatically translated into English. She was completely dumbfounded by what was going on with her. True, she should expect more to be affected after her "vet visit", but she didn't think she'd get these new appendages and their little "gifts". She shook her head and looked up, finally noticing the outline of the door. She slapped herself on the forehead and let out a low moan. _Glad nothing came out and grabbed me!_

"Hey, did you hear something?"

Theresa froze and looked up to where she heard the voice. _Don't look, PLEASE don't look! God, let them think it's something else!_ She was finally trying to get a hold on what Scalpel did and now, she had to deal with one of her "comrades". She turned to the door and hiked up the blanket up over her shoulders. She bundled up the opening into her hand and touched the door. "Come on, Warp. Starscream and the others are waiting in the washroom". The other voice was very different from the other one. The first one sounded like youthful, gun-ho, and very mischievous person. Just thinking of that one, it made Theresa think of her "deceased" brother. The one that complained to "Warp" would have caused her jaw to drop (if it wasn't for her to be freaking out in her head) because the robot sounded like someone right out of Brooklyn, New York. The red lettering popped back up and the door was actually a supply closet. It was very clichéd, but she rather take that than face those robots, who were slowly getting closer. "Hey, I think it's coming from down this way. Do you think it's one of Scalpel's pets? " Warp chuckled with glee.

" No! You are NOT keeping another one. The last one exploded in the room when you fried the slagging thing with your thruster." The older one thundered loudly. Their footsteps stopped for a second as the older one reprimanded the younger one.

Warp giggled. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Starscream nearly fritzed my hearing from his 'lecture'."

Theresa's eyes widened. _OPEN UP, OPEN UP! _She slammed her hand on the door, which caused it to open. She leaped into the door, but the blanket got caught on the teeth of the bottom lock as it closed again. Theresa didn't notice until she tried walking away. She tugged and tugged, but it wouldn't budge. She turned around and thought it would be better if she pulled from the front. It didn't matter, in fact, it made it worse. A loud _RIP_ echoed through the "small" supply closet. She held up the shredded, thick piece of cloth. It was barely enough to be a bikini top. Forget it being the bottom. She liked mini-skirts, but this piece of cloth was ridiculous short in her eyes. She wasn't exactly an expert at math, but by the width, it was about big as her average-sized hand*.

The room where she was in wasn't exactly warm, but she could tell it was a few degrees warmer. _Whenever I get back to New York, I will NEVER complain again. _Since there's no doubt in her mind that the younger robot's probably going to win out in looking for her, she had to get out of this room. Part of her brain was asking why she was even hiding when it was useless, and they're going to find her anyways. She might as well stay put and beg for mercy. That part of the brain lost to her rebellious part that was saying "screw that!". She took her other hand and clenched the other end of the fabric. Since it was wider in the middle and skinnier at the shredded ends, she mentally thought of an outfit she could make out of the ruined material. True she wasn't book smart, but she knew her way around a shopping center. She was thinking of doing something in fashion or maybe a food critic (being that she has such an honest opinion), but for now, those options are in the "not likely to happen" pile.

She looked around the somewhat packed room. There were metal containers with grooves on the bottom and the grooves were inverted on the top, making it studier and more secure. The corners weren't exactly corners either. It looked like someone hacked off the points and put a piece of metal that fit into the gaping hole and welded it shut*. The enormous band of light that wrapped around the middle of the walls supplied enough light for her to see. She sort of didn't understand why they couldn't have used white instead of red. She stopped with the interior designing flaws and found a piece of broken off, solid pipe. It was a bit rusted, but still enough to do some needed damage. She smirked at thinking she could skewer the prick that chopped off her hair and fondled her. He probably thought she wouldn't remember, but she did. Oh, yes. She remembered. Her "master" said he wasn't interested in her, but he didn't say anything about the others. "It's not a can of mace or a taser, but this could work." She smiled. She fast-walked over back to the door and used the arm length pipe to cut away as much as she could to make the bottom of her "outfit". She was going to have the appearance of a zombie belly-dancer, but she was going to be a not-so cold, zombie belly-dancer. The bottom was going to be tricky to figure out for her since she didn't have any underwear handy, plus she doesn't like going "commando" like some girls/women. She laid it flat out on the floor and started to slice away (with the pipe) a piece of fabric that approximately fit her bottom. She took the two right corners and tied it loosely. She bent down and she stepped into the opening with her right foot. She pulled it up until it hit her hip. Seeing that it needed to be tightened, she untied the knot and made a tighter one. She repeated the same way with the two left corners of the fabric. She was thinking of using the rest of it to be leg and arm warmers, but she just simply tied the upper left and right corner around her waist. It was either be cold shivers in her shoulders or in her legs. Sacrifices must be made now. And she _hated _it.

Wendy smiled and thanked the last server who gave her an extra serving of mashed potatoes. She really hadn't had anything substantially "healthy" for the last few days due to being confined to her son's room. It wasn't that military men were starving her or her husband. It was just that they rather have something simple and quick to eat like potato chips and soda from the vending machines. She was given weird looks by the doctor whenever they silently ate their food, but she was too hungry to care. Plus she glared at him to challenge him in taking her oatmeal raisin cookies from her. Her daughter was gone, possibly incinerated by those things that they "can't talk about" and her son was in a coma by the same ones that took her daughter. She will _not _let some nutritional-conscious doctor from taking one of the few remaining treasures away. She would send _him_ to a doctor if he even mentions the words "disgusting food". She walked past her husband who was still piling on the succotash. She shook her head slightly. That was his favorite side dish. True, it wasn't traditional succotash that came with lima beans and corn, but he was still deprived with food so he stocking up on it like this was his last meal. She glanced around the cafeteria, which was an open barrack on the surface. Why they were up above ground when the most logical place for one would be underground? They never asked because the military personnel would give some farfetched excuse and the Butlers were getting very tired of the hiding behind the "national security" curtain. The barracks were covered all covered with tin paneling, but the large wide door was open, letting in the humidity and a cooling breeze mixed in. Wendy could get use to this calming atmosphere, except for the whole exiled to a military base for the impending future thing.

The red haired woman walked over to the one of the more emptied out tables. She caught a few straying looks, but that was nothing new. When she was younger and started dating her husband, it wasn't exactly normal for her to marry someone like him. And she didn't mean his desire to be in the army. In fact, one church refused to marry them because of their marriage decision. They didn't outright say it, but they both knew. She pushed the past prejudice out of her mind and she noticed a rather frazzled, dirty blonde woman. By the looks of it, she was in her late twenties. Her face was reddish and slightly tanned from the sun, but Wendy could easily tell she was Caucasian. She muttered something and continued to look over the small pile of paperwork in front of her. "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" The woman jumped and looked up at Wendy. She stuttered and recomposed herself. "O-of course. Please. I can leave if you want to be alone." She said, starting to pick up the papers.

The blonde woman stumbled out of her chair and a few pieces of papers flew on the floor. Wendy put her food on the table and went around to help the twenty year old get up on her feet. The woman popped up with the papers and Wendy was able to recognize the map of the world. Two points were highlighted over New Jersey and the other one was somewhere in Brazil, but she couldn't quite tell because of how quick the woman held the papers close to her chest. "I'm sorry, but it's-"

"Classified." The two said in unison. Wendy shook her head and sighed. "Yes, that seems to be you all's favorite word. It's either 'classified' or 'matter of national security'. I'm sorry, I'm Wendy Butler." She said, shaking off her bitterness and putting on an inviting smile.

"Oh, I'm Maggie Madison. I do..tech support, you could say." The blonde woman said in return, extending her hand.

"Wow. That's interesting. You don't look like you're in the military." Wendy replied.

"I'm not. Civilian, actually. Well, Australian civilian." Maggie smiled as she returned to her seat.

Derek finally unchained himself from the cafeteria line and found his wife chatting along with a blonde-haired woman. "Oh, this is my husband, Derek." He nodded at Maggie with a small smile. He wasn't quite as open as his wife is to her. This woman might not be wearing the fancy suits and fatigues, but he could tell she knew what was going on. "Hello, ma'am." He said, pulling out a chair and sat beside Wendy, whose plate was still relatively full, despite her stomach growling excessively earlier.

" Is there _anything_ you can tell us? I know it's about national security, but do they honestly think that we're going to risk our daughter's safety by telling the world who these 'things' are?" Wendy asked, pleading with Maggie.

She shook her head. "Trust me, the Cons don't care if people know them." She muttered quietly.

The two greenhorns that were supposed to be watching the couple finally came over and were ready to tell Maggie about her "slip up", but the intercom let out a screech of static before the voice came online. "Technicians, arm your stations. I repeat, technicians, arm your stations. Higher-ranking soldiers, report to the command center." The soldiers scattered like roaches along with the civilian technicians who were catching a quick lunch/break. The blonde-haired woman got up and apologized for the abrupt ending of their conversation. She grabbed all of her papers, but one sliver of paper. The two brothers had disappeared as well, leaving the couple with a somewhat empty room. Derek looked at Wendy and gave her a peck on the cheek. He leaned in close. "Stay here. I'll be right back." He said and walked calmly over to the men's bathroom door, which was closer to the main door. He looked around before entering.

Derek noticed a man about his size was finishing up at the urinal. He waited until he was "decent" and the soldier turned around, surprised by how close he was to him. He was about his stature and by the looks of him his clothes could just about fit him. "Sorry about this, man." The soldier didn't have time to defend himself from the punch to his throat. He crumbled to his knees and held his aching throat. The ex-pilot kicked him in the chest and at the temple. The soldier was going to be sore for the next few days, but it was worth finding answers. He dragged him to the far end of the stalls and stripped him down to his undershirt and underwear. The formal airman dressed quickly and straightened up the clothing before walking calmly out the room. He found a pair of sunglasses and put them on along with the downed soldier's hat.

Derek looked back at Wendy who waved in her face like she was fanning herself to get away from the gnats, but he knew she meant "go on ahead". He calmly jogged out and followed behind some of the stragglers. He didn't know if it was the right way or if he was going to be caught, but he was not going to sit and wait like a good "civvie". He served his country and deserved some answers.

**And that's about a good place to stop. I don't know if this was clichéd, but the whole Derek taking down the soldier was in my head for awhile and it was CLAWING to get out. Thanks to a few of my friends that listened to me whine on how I didn't know what I was going to do with the nonexistent reviews. I know 99% is because I'm sucking at uploading like crazy. I'm SO sorry. Leonixon is a really good friend of mine on here and I've been giving her some of my Santa's helping elf service. FrostedPurpleIrises91, thank you for reviewing my story and being a great friend. I'm still in it for the long run if you guys are. Thank you for the other reviewers. Sorry, I can't name you all, but God bless you!**

***- the hand is about 20 inches long. Give or take.**


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